Extreme questions
Some interviews include extreme problem-solving questions. This lesson will help you deal with these effectively.
It is common in interviews, especially for jobs in creative industries, for interviewers to ask extreme questions. One type of question involves near-impossible problem-solving questions. This lesson will help you to deal better with questions like this.
Remember, there is no correct answer to questions like these.
Extreme interview questions are used to identify, test and measure a candidate’s approach to difficult and unusual situations. There is no one correct answer. The way the interviewee reacts to and deals with the question is the important thing.
NOTE: These kinds of questions used to be very popular with loonies like Steve Jobs, but are becoming less common nowadays. They are most likely to be found in interviews for 'creative' positions.
If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them, how would you choose which ones to answer?
As previously mentioned, there is no one right answer. These kinds of questions fluster a lot of people. Reassure your student if they find it very difficult to produce an answer.
A possible answer is: “The question does not say you cannot read all the emails, but that you have to answer 300 of them. So, I would check them all and then pick 300 in order of importance: 1) emails from my manager or other VIPs, 2) time/goal critical emails, 3) emails that are most impactful to the company's bottom line.”
When it comes to questions like this, the interviewer is not looking for a correct answer. In many cases, there won’t actually be a ‘right’ answer.
The interviewer wants to determine the following:
- whether you can think on your feet (whether you can react to events decisively, effectively, and without prior thought).
- how you approach a difficult situation.
- if you can remain positive and proactive when faced with a challenge.
You should:
- try to remain calm and buy some time if necessary.
- try to answer confidently, and ask the interviewer questions for clarification.
- ask for a pencil and paper if necessary. This shows you are approaching the problem in a serious and methodical way.
- think out loud – let the interviewer see your thought process and the way you think and analyze information.
Some useful phrases in situations like this are:
To buy some time:
- That’s a challenging one.
- That’s a tough one.
- Let me think about that for a moment.
Show confidence:
- I’d say the obvious answer is…
- That’s easy
- The easy answer to that is…
Asking for clarification:
- So, are we talking about…?
- So, if I understand you correctly, you are saying/asking…
- So, you mean…?
- Let me see if I understood correctly.
- So, what you are saying/asking is… Is that right?
Asking for extra support or information:
- I think I’ll need something to write on for this one.
- Could I have a pencil and paper, please?
- Can I ask you for some specific information?
- So, could you tell me…?
Thinking out loud:
- So, I’m going to imagine that…
- The obvious issue here is…
- I think the main difficulty in this scenario is…
- Let’s say…
- Let’s imagine…
Go through the phrases with your student and make sure they are familiar with each one before going to the Practice section.
Choose one of the following questions and try to answer it using some of the language given above.
- How many people are using Facebook in San Francisco at 2:30 PM on a Friday?
- If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it?”
- How many tennis balls can you fit into a limousine?